Keith Taylor, Green Party MEP for the South East, has slammed the Conservative Party's manifesto pledge to weaken oil and gas drilling regulations in a bid to fast-track fracking across the UK [1].

Mr Taylor, a member of the European Parliament's Environment Committee, said: "Theresa May has previously committed to putting the UK up for shale but it's not happening quickly enough for our wannabe supreme leader or the oil and gas firms she's in hock to."

"It is little wonder then that the Conservative manifesto is desperate to strip away all those irksome barriers to extreme oil and gas extraction, like local democracy and environmental regulations."

"That the processes are extremely dangerous and overwhelmingly opposed by local communities, that avoiding the exploitation any new fossil fuel resources is essential if we're to avert the very worst effects of climate change, that our countryside needs protection, not industrialisation counts for very little when you have oil and gas barons to keep happy.

"Rather than address the weaknesses in the current regulations - defiantly flouted by oil and gas firms like Angus Energy in Surrey without sanction - Theresa May has decided that the easiest way to stop firms abusing the rules is to scrap the rules."

"It's one of many retrograde steps in a manifesto full of backwards-looking policies. Theresa May is abandoning the Tory promise to be the 'greenest government' and instead pledging to be an 'energy extremist government'. The Conservatives have given up even pretending to care about the environment or climate change."

Keith is the Green MEP for the South East of England and is one of 50 Greens/EFA MEPs in the European Parliament. He sits on the Committee on Transport and Tourism, and the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. He is a member of the European Parliament’s delegation to the Palestinian Legislative Council which works to forge greater links between MEPs and parliamentarians in Palestine. Keith is also Vice Chair of the parliament’s Intergroup on animal welfare and a member of the parliament’s Intergroup on LGBTI Rights.